Quitting smoking for 20 minutes can lead to normalizing blood pressure, pulse rate and body temperature. Quitting for less than a half hour can be the starting point to prevent any long-term risks of smoking.
“Tobacco use is the most common preventable cause of death; almost half of the people who don’t quit smoking will die due from smoking-related issues,” Debbie Conover, student health services coordinator, said.
There are a variety of short-term and long-term risks that students who smoke should know about.
“The immediate impact of habitual smokers is lack of sound sleep, stained teeth and early aging,” Eugene Engle, health professor, said.
“However, there are more long-term health risks such as lung cancer and heart disease,” he said.
Students who smoke are probably aware of these consequences, but for many, the immediate benefits such as losing weight and feeling less stressed outweigh the future consequences.
“If you’re a smoker, you’re living in the moment and you’re not thinking about the consequences ahead,” Engle said. “You have no idea how much it’s going to hurt your life.”
Smoking can also become a costly habit for one’s well being as well as financially.
The cost of a pack of cigarettes averages $4.50 to $5, resulting in roughly $30 a week, according to the official MSN Money Central website.
“By quitting smoking for one week, you can buy four movie tickets, by quitting for one month you can buy a digital camera and by quitting for one year, you can buy a big-screen TV,” Conover said.
Though many smokers willingly spend money on expensive cigarettes and are aware of the negative health effects, most tend to be unsuccessful in trying to quit.
According to abovetheinfluence.com, one of the reasons may be that the different chemicals in cigarettes directly or indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates movement, emotion, cognition, motivation and feelings of pleasure, which causes the euphoric effects that individuals look for to relieve stress.
“I’ve been smoking for a year now and I can’t quit because it’s a habit and it’s addictive,” Jason Choi, 18, nursing major, said.
“When I wake up in the morning, that’s the only thing I think about. If I don’t smoke, I get really cranky,” he said.
Several programs in the Health Center can be utilized for people trying to quit smoking, including individual therapy sessions that students may attend at no cost, Conover said.
Ladrina Maciel, 24, theater arts major, said she started smoking at 18 and finished her final pack of cigarettes before she decides to quit.
After quitting smoking for six months, she said she started up after a series of family problems escalated.
“I wasn’t as tired after I quit,” Maciel said. “I know I can do it, it’s just a matter of following through. I’ve done it before and didn’t have a problem with it.”